Iveco Daily

Submitted: Monday, Mar 25, 2019 at 09:43

ThreadID: 138024
Views:1491
Replies:9
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farmer1 t

Iveco Daily Owners:
I have a 2009 ( Automatic) Iveco Daily 65C18 and from time to time, like all vehicles I have issues and problems.
Recently on a trip, after stopping, I was unable to travel any further as tmy trucks computer displayed the message "Automatic Gearbox Failure 078".
This fault was caused by the failure of the Automatic Clutch Actuator, an electronic unit mounted on the left side of the transmission that automatically makes the gear changes. The Iveco OE part number is 42550296, which I believe is actually made by the German Company Sachs who's part number is 3981 000 093 or Sachs 3981 000 046
I had to have the vehicle towed back to my home and after a week of investigation, I found that the faulty part, the Automatic Clutch Actuator had to be replaced.
I got a quote from the local dealer for the part which was the best part of $3600+ GST.
I found another very good Service organization in Sydney that sold the same part for $1600 but had a special available at about $1200.
Next I went to Ebay and immediately found the part I required available through Ebay from several British organizations all at around $409 Australian delivered direct to my door.
I ordered the part which arrived 5 days later with instructions that indicated that the unit, once installed had to be calibrated, which is normally done using a computer connected to the vehicle by the Iveco service dept.
After further investigation I was given a procedure to do the calibration without a computer which is as follows:
1} Turn Ignition ON
2) Turn Lights ON
3) Disconnect Positive Terminal on the Battery and then a few seconds later, turn OFF the Ignition and the Lights.
4) After 10 seconds+ Reconnect the Battery.
5) Next, turn the Ignition ON and wait 20 seconds.
6) Push the Clutch/Break pedal down and release 3 times at the same even pace and then wait for 10+ seconds.
7) Turn the ignition OFF to complete the procedure.
According to the information that I received this procedure should cause the trucks inbuilt computer to automatically calibrate the new Clutch Actuator.
This whole episode bought to my attention the following:
a) Nothing is perfect and nothing lasts forever there will be problems and failures.
b) It appears to me that Vehicle Dealers in this country are over priced and noncompetitive.
c) Always do your due diligence and be persistent until you get a satisfactory and reasonable result.
d) In this case, if I used the local dealer, it probably would have cost more than $4100 for the local dealer to do the repair including the part cost. which is about 1000% more than the part actually cost me.
e) Somewhere in Google lies the answers that we crave. You have only to ask the right questions and also, although Ebay is not the answer to everything one wants, it's a great way to start when you need something.....

Spare parts pricing in Australia has always been a 'ripoff' , yes it costs money to keep parts in 'stock' but the 'markups' are often obscene , I well remember an exercise done by the NRMA in the late 60's - early 70's , the 'floor' price of a new Holden was just on $2500 or so yet to build the exact same vehicle through the dealers 'spare parts' counter came to over $ 100,000.oo .....

If you own a Landie or a Jeep, then parts are always way cheaper from overseas delivered to your door rather than buying them here. A transfer case for a Landie $3000 here, $900 delivered from the UK. Delivery time was quite good too. Unfortunately, I can't afford to buy Australian.

Farmer1 t - Your saga encapsulates my life on a daily basis for the last 54 years, since I left school, and started work as a contractor - trying to defeat the parts costs ripoffs, that many people just grumble about, but just pay without further investigation.

Your saga also reinforces my attitude that European products are some of the greatest ripoffs the world has ever seen.

Try owning a BMW or an Audi, the ripoffs and the convoluted technology are eye-watering.

Even to the point where you cannot use a generic code reader for BMW vehicles, they require a factory code reader, because of that inbuilt design and marketing bastardry, cutely termed, "Captive Customer".

CC simply means you have no option but to go to the manufacturer for your parts, service and technical assistance.

Caterpillar are masters of CC - they even manufacture their own bearings, which are called "proprietary line" - meaning that they may look the same as a standard bearing, but they will have deviations from SAE standards, such as 0.002" additional running clearance, thus ensuring you cannot use standard SAE design bearings.

Caterpillar even deviate from SAE standards on shaft splines. For a given diameter driveshaft, SAE will stipulate 12 splines - but Cat will use 13 splines - just to ensure you cannot buy a standard splined driveshaft.

eBay is the greatest marketplace ever devised. I have acquired virtually unobtainable parts for my '39 Cadillac engine via eBay, from the U.S., at prices that were extremely reasonable.

I have sourced endless amounts of parts and supplies from eBay and the internet over the last 20 years, with savings running into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Googles search ability is the greatest thing to happen to the world in the last 200 years.
I've tracked down backhoe thieves in the U.S. from here, using Google search - it finds scammers, and it finds part numbers, part interchanges, suppliers, sellers, and gives you links to advice and problems on 95% of the manufactured items in the world.

There are other marketplaces out there - Gumtree and Kijiji in the U.S. and Canada are also useful - but they are less regulated than eBay.

I've actually acquired some very expensive cast-iron welding rods from a bloke in Canada, via Kijiji - but I had to do some extensive talking and texting, to finally convince him I wasn't a scammer - but a genuine Aussie who just wanted some of his exceptional welding rods.

The end result was, I acquired 2 packets of those welding rods for US$50 a packet, when they retail for around US$800 a packet!

I've bought ex-U.S. military equipment from far-flung places, via online auctions, and had some major "wins".
I love the internet and the global marketplaces, I just wish it had all developed 50 years earlier!

Me too. Some people gamble on horses, I have a few sherbets on a Friday night and order cheap gear from God knows where. Mostly I win in the quality stakes but I've also had some losses. I love that we now have the ability to do it though.

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It is not just the inflated cost of spare parts that is a problem, it is the fact that in modern vehicles complex and expensive problems arise due to the failure of very minor and otherwise inexpensive components. And such problems leave you dead-in-the-water.

With traditional vehicle components it is usual that they show early signs of a problem well before total failure. Contemporary vehicles are stuffed with electronic processors where the simple failure of a minuscule component will immediately render the vehicle completely static or limp-mode at best. It doesn't even need to be an electronic component failure..... a dirty connector will do it!

I have spent a lifetime working with electronic controls and know that once a semiconductor survives a short 'burn-in' period it is reliable for a time, but the likelihood of failure then increases with passing time. Keep a vehicle long enough and you WILL suffer from an electronic failure without warning. The time is fast approaching when the failures will be commonplace. And it is absolutely impossible to execute a workaround of most of these failures.

Just take a look at the number of loom cable connectors in a modern vehicle. Each of these have multiple pin contacts steadily corroding due to no more than atmospheric oxidation. It is an almost predictable period of time before one of the contacts in your obscure connector will fail causing total vehicle shutdown.

Process industries using complex electronic control systems are arranged with secondary and redundant functions that avoid catastrophic process failure but no such facility is incorporated in vehicles. Blow a transistor and you're toast.

It is bad enough to have this happen in the suburban runabout but disaster with the 4x4 in a remote location. For this reason I am content with my 2002 Troopy that has nothing more complicated than an intermittent windscreen wiper control. Fence wire and gaffer tape fix most things. And I am clinging to my 2014 Aurion for its relative simplicity.

Yeah, it's new and shiny and it's comfortable with lots of goodies, but good luck with it. lol

Saw a writeup on a Bentley Continental.....something like 310,000 stitches in the hide leather interior and 92 computers and 2300 electrical circuits and 100,000,000 lines of software code to run it...15 times more than a Boeing 787 Dreamliner !!!!

Sheer odds say it will get a tow back to the dealers at some stage of it's life..

Went into the dealer with a dodgy sensor and was quoted $1100 and a 3-4 week wait for it to come from Japan. The fuel injection bits had the Nissan part number stamped into the housing, along with a Bosch part number, so I took the part to a Bosch dealer and he got one from Germany for $400 in 3 days.

A replacement Injector $1100 assembly as you can't buy sub components these days, took it to the Bosch guy again who did some phoning around and found the same parts were used in some obscure Renault and he could rebuild them with new parts for $48 each.

Brake rotors, the spare parts guy even thought it was ludicrous and told me to go to PBR down the road. Aussie made rotors, drums, pads and shoes for less than 1 genuine rotor.

Farmer1 t
Is the faulty unit a potted item, ie, filled with gunk or is it openable and can be looked at for possible repair? It sounds like it is electronic and motor/servo stepper motor type unit. Maybe just one component stopped which rendered all stopped.